From Eventide to Daybreak
by TARDISbluu
Summary: What if Hagrid had never been sent by Dumbledore to bring Harry? What Sirius had been the one to find James, Lily, and Harry that night? And what if Sirius had taken him with him, instead of going after Peter? - AU, Guardian!Sirius and future Slytherin!Harry (Angsty beginning, but should get happier - note title)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, neither books nor movies.**

**AN: Mood music: "Getting Away with Murder," by Papa Roach**

**(2) I have edited this chapter! Hopefully the sentence structure is less confusing, and there are less grammatical errors. When I first posted, I hadn't really done a thorough editing job. A reread isn't necessary, as none of the plot-related details have changed, but you can if you want to. I alos have a nasty habit of using too many commas - sorry.**

**-#-#-#-#-#-**

The night was quiet. There were few bugs or birds making any sounds. There was no breeze. It was the night of October the 31st, 1981. Something terrible had happened that night, the same as many other nights in the years before, and it was strong enough that even the animals of the night could sense it.

The icy fingers of dread were wrapping themselves around Sirius Black's heart. He didn't know what had happened, but he could feel it. He decided he would go to Peter's home. Normally, Sirius would go to James' house, because he was best friends with him, but something was telling him to go to Peter's. He didn't want to think about why that was, but he went anyways.

Mounting his motorbike, he started on his way to Peter's. Sirius was hoping that Peter would forgive him for coming over so late, but his hopes were forgotten when Peter didn't answer the knock on his door.

"Peter?" he called, knocking again. "It's me."

Still there was no answer. Dread, unease, and the beginnings of fear worked their way into his heart.

"Peter?"

Sirius went inside when he found the door to be unlocked. What he found disturbed him. The house was neat, with a few items here and there that were normally present were missing, and the only sounds he could hear were his own heavy breathing and pounding heart. Peter's home was never this neat.

"Anyone here?"

Sirius shut the door behind him, and went through to the other rooms. Finding those empty, he went into the bedroom, and saw that all of Peter's things were gone – his muggle clothes, his robes, his wand (which was not necessarily alarming), and few other things.

"…No…" he whispered.

Terror filled him. Peter wouldn't have…

"No!"

Sirius turned and ran out of the house, leaving the door open in his haste. He mounted his bike, and tore down the road, flipping the switch to make it fly. He had to get there – fast. He wasn't going to ride on the ground this time.

Leaning to the left, he curved the bike through the air in the direction of James' home. His heart was pounding fast, a terrible feeling washing through him, filling his body with adrenaline.

_Please, please, _please_ be there_, he thought.

Then he saw it.

_No, no, no!_

Approaching fast from high above the ground, he could see smoke and the flickering light of fire in the darkness around the same general area of his friends' home.

Drawing closer still, he could now see clearly from where it was originating.

"_No!"_ he cried out.

It was now obvious – that smoke and those flames were coming from James and Lily's home. Sirius hadn't thought it possible for him to grow more afraid, but he did. James. Lily. _Harry._ He pressed in on the petrol, trying to make the bike go faster.

Sloping the bike into a dive, he curved to the right to land on the street in front of their home, which looked to have half the second story in the back left and a quarter of the first just under it completely blown away, and there were some small flames licking along the edges of the rubble.

Sirius dismounted quickly, tears of grief already coming down, and ran towards the door, which looked to be blown off its hinges. When he had seen the location in which the apparent explosion had occurred, he was even more terrified, because he knew – that was Harry's bedroom. It was his _godson's_ bedroom. Sirius sprinted through the living room, turned to go up the stairs, but stopped in horror. It was James. James, his best friend, was collapsed on the stairs, his wand held loosely in hand, eyes still open, apparently dead. It was obvious to Sirius what curse had taken his life – only one killed like that.

"Oh, God, James…"

Sirius shook himself, pushing his anguish aside to be dealt with later, and was running up the rest of the way when he heard it.

A child was crying.

He stopped at the landing.

"…Harry!"

Taking off again, he went down the hallway, and when he stopped at the doorway, seeing Lily lying there at the base of Harry's crib, Sirius was filled with anguish again. He quickly crossed over to where Harry was still crying softly, in his crib.

A small sob escaped Sirius, but he pulled out his wand and performed a quick check-up spell on him. Other than the cut on his forehead, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him.

Relief washed through him. Harry was okay… _he was okay!_ Sirius didn't understand it. James and Lily were dead, but Harry was okay, other than the strangely-shaped scratch. He couldn't understand where the scratch had come from. Sirius could _feel_ the evil residue in the room. He could see that James and Lily were likely killed with the Killing Curse. Why wasn't Harry dead?

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

_James… and Lily… are dead. They're _dead_. And the reason… _His emotions began to change. He lifted Harry out of his crib, and started whispering to him, attempting to comfort him as his emotions of grief began to mix with rage. Peter. Peter had betrayed them. He had betrayed them _all_. The spy hadn't been Remus at all. It had been Peter. The only possible way someone could have found out about this house was if Peter had told them – the Fidelius Charm prevented it otherwise.

He wanted to kill him. There was no doubt about it. Sirius would _kill_ that rat for betraying them… but no. What about Harry? He had to take care of him.

_I can come back_, he reasoned. _Get Peter, and then come back for Harry._

But at the same time, he could see sense. He needed to _stay_ with Harry. He couldn't abandon him now, not even for a few hours. He had to stay with him. It was the only thing to do. It was what James and Lily would have wanted him to do.

Sirius walked out, stepping over Lily, and, after looking on with a deep, cutting pain and loss, around James to go down the stairs. He was torn. He was filled with anger and anguish over what had happened to Lily and James – which he still didn't understand where Voldemort had gone, as the only sign of him had been the presence – but at the same time, he felt relief that Harry was alright, and determination to make sure he stayed that way.

Harry was still crying, but had calmed a little after recognizing who was holding him. Sirius didn't bother to worry about him still crying – he had just witnessed his mother be killed, and quite possibly his father as well… Sirius hadn't even seen it, but he was still crying. Harry had every right to cry.

Sirius tucked Harry, who was wrapped tightly in his blankets, into the sidecar of the motorbike. Sirius was glad he hadn't removed it, for whatever reason. He cast a quick lasting warming charm over the sidecar, and also a quick spell that prevents things from falling or jumping out. He wasn't going to lose Harry for anything.

He paused, and looked around again. There was no sign of any death eaters, and there was no sign of Voldemort other than the fact half the house was blown away.

_What _happened_ here? _He wondered. Then he looked over the area of the house he knew James and Lily were still lying.

_I'll take care of Harry for you, like he was my own son. _He thought. _I promise you._

Another single tear rolling down his face, he wiped it away, before trying to shove his grief from his mind – even if it was only for the moment necessary to cast the spell he needed. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in another attempt to compose himself, and brought up his wand. He called to the front of his mind the happiest memory that he could now hold onto – finding Harry in almost perfect health despite the state of parents that night.

"_Expecto Patronum!"_

When the glowing silvery form had been cast and was standing in front of him, Sirius instructed it to go to Dumbledore with a message.

"Sir… I have… awful news." His voice broke. "Voldemort… He's killed James and Lily." Once he got this out, the words began to gush out of him. "Just three days ago, I… I thought that I would be too obvious for the position of Secret Keeper, and so an idea came to me, and oh God, I thought it was good one but it wasn't, and now they're dead and… It was Peter! Dumbledore, I told James and Lily to make Peter the Secret Keeper, and I would be a decoy! All three of us had thought Remus to be the spy, because he was a werewolf, but he wasn't, Remus wasn't the spy, Peter was!"

Sirius started crying again.

"And James thought the idea was great, and so we did it – they made the switch in Secret Keepers from me to Peter. He must have told Voldemort the Secret! _God_, I want to kill him! And-and I would, too, if it weren't…" He took in a deep, shuddering breath.

"I have Harry. He's okay. I don't know how – all he had was a scratch on his forehead. There are no signs of Voldemort or death eaters around. I'm still standing outside their house, and… Merlin, half of their house is destroyed. But there's-there's no Dark Mark, no death eaters, no… I just don't understand it. I could _feel _his presence there, Albus. But he wasn't there… James… James and Lily are still inside…"

He trailed off, and braced himself against the parked bike.

"I have to take care of Harry. I think… I think I'm going to take him, Albus. I'm going to disappear with him. Check the will, if you want proof of Peter being the Secret Keeper. They updated it just before… just before performing the charm.

"I don't know if Voldemort is gone. It certainly seems like it, something about Harry did him in, but I find it hard to believe – not after all this. Not after all he's done. But… if he is… I'll see you in 10 years, at the least. I don't know what this prophecy said exactly about Harry and Voldemort, but I want Harry to be off the map completely and literally – where no one can find us.

"And, since I can't do it without leaving Harry… Get him, for me. You get Wormtail, and you make him pay. Make sure he either dies and goes to hell or that he goes Azkaban, at least, which everyone knows is the earth equivalent of hell."

With that, he sent off the Patronus, and mounted the bike. Sirius pressed the motor-silencing button on the bike, kicked the starter, and pulled off. He sped at speeds sure to be illegal, for the road, but he didn't want any of the Order or Auror Squad catching up to him once they get the guaranteed message from Dumbledore of the attack. Once on a stretch of open road, he Disillusioned himself, the bike, and the sidecar before picking up into the air and turning towards London. He could think of one place where he could take Harry. It was a place no one who knew him would expect him to go, because he hated it so much, but it was perfect because it was under Fidelius. That, and Sirius was the only one who knew the Secret with he himself being the Secret Keeper. He never thought he'd ever say this – but thank Merlin for paranoid parents who hated muggles, creating a house that was unplottable, warded, and under the Fidelius Charm, with each Black heir or heiress becoming Secret Keeper as part of their inheritance. And lucky Sirius, since his younger brother died, his parents had no choice but to leave it to him - even though they had hated him with all their hearts.

**-#-#-#-#-#- **

**AN: So, this is the first chapter. I don't think this will like a normal story… More like a series of one-shots that sometimes skips around in the timeline, and sometimes doesn't. I don't think it will be more than 5 chapters… Each chapter will probably be about this length. If anyone takes inspiration of this, and wants to make it into a full-blown story, feel free. **

**I have not written ahead. Like, at all. So, don't **_**expect**_** me to completely finish this. I'm not known for keeping up with "stories," which is why I'm not making this a story. I'm good at creating scenes in a story, but I'm terrible at filling in the gaps. And so, writer's block abounds, in that area… But, I can probably finish each chapter within 2 weeks.**

**I don't like begging for reviews, as that's annoying for me to read, but feel free to leave a review. I'd love to hear what you think.**

**(2) IF YOU'RE A FOLLOWER AND ARE WONDERING WHY YOU GOT AN EMAIL NOTIFICATION WHEN THERE'S NO NEW CHAPTER: I'm sorry for the false alarm... Next chapter should be up this week. I haven't had the chance to work on it, yet, and this chapter was bugging me to no end because of it's mistakes. I simply _had_ to fix it. Don't kill me for the false alarm, please! D:**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello, hello! Thank you so much for all the reviews! You guys are amazing! I have replies to the guests down on the bottom, by the way.**

**So, I had planned on working on this on Sunday, September 22, but I ended up being gone all. Day. Long. It was great. So I wasn't really able to work on it much, then. I literally left home at about 8:30am, and got home around 8:30pm… Anyway, just one more thing. If those of you who follow this story got two email notifications, I'm sorry, but I had noticed a bunch of mistakes in the first chapter that I just had to correct. It's all grammatical, though, so you don't need to reread it. Unless you just want to, of course.**

**NOW. Here's chapter 2!**

**-#-#-#-#Chapter 2#-#-#-#-**

After Sirius had parked the bike in front of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, he disabled the protective spells around Harry on the sidecar and picked him up out of it. Heading towards the entrance to the faded building, he whispered the Secret – which was the location of the building – into Harry's ear. Even though he was at the tender age of 1 and a half years, he still wouldn't be able to see through the power of the Fidelius.

He entered the building, Harry wide awake and bundled in his arms, and carefully shut the door behind him. Suddenly a voice broke the silence.

"Unc' Pa'foo'?"

Sirius' heart broke a little at the wide, innocent green eyes staring up at him. Harry's head was tilted up, and he had one hand draped over Sirius' right shoulder, and the other clutched into his shirt.

"Yeah, Pup?" Sirius asked, trying not to cry again for Harry's sake – since Harry had only stopped crying about halfway into the ride to Number 12. Sirius' bike had always calmed Harry – much to Lily's consternation.

"Where's Mummy?" Again, there was an oblivious innocence in his unwavering gaze and voice.

With this question, Sirius couldn't help the single tear from going down his face, and he had to close his eyes to contain himself. He felt a tiny hand brush his cheek, and he opened his eyes again to find Harry looking down at a bit of moisture on his fingertips.

Harry looked back up with a childlike concern lining his face, and he asked,

"Why's you cryin', Pa'foo'?"

A small, humorless laugh escaped Sirius.

"'Cause I'm happy to see you, Pup," he answered more truthfully than he expected himself to. To be honest, he was kind of glad Harry seemed to be distracted from his first question. Sirius didn't particularly want to broach that subject.

Harry frowned at him, but Sirius started walking and interrupted whatever he was about to say.

"How about we get you a snack, hm? How's that sound?" he asked him, headed towards the kitchen. At the same time, he was looking around, wondering about the thin layer of dust layering the furniture – whatever had happened to Kreacher, that ridiculous old house elf of his brother's? He pushed the thought from his mind when Harry answered him.

"Otay."

Walking into the kitchen, he pulled out one of the kitchen tables with his left hand, and set Harry down into it. The table came up to Harry's forehead. Twisting his mouth, Sirius looked from Harry, to the table, to the chair, and back again contemplatively. Harry just looked up at him as if to say, "What in the world are you thinking, Uncle Padfoot?"

Sirius sighed.

"Alright, that's not going to work! But… what in the world do I do with it?" he said with exasperation.

Harry giggled.

"Oh, you find this funny, do you? How are you supposed to eat like a normal person when the table's so much taller than you? I know that… that your mum had a high chair, well, I don't have a high chair, so…"

He trailed off, and looked around a bit, before spotting something.

"Ah! This'll work!" he exclaimed. "Just got to put some little fixes on it…"

He went over to the very, _very_ large recipe book – which Sirius found it strange that house elves would need such a large recipe book, but to each their own, he supposed – and blew the dust off the cover, sending him into a bit of a coughing fit from the cloud it sent up.

"Ack! _Why_ did I just do that?!" he turned to look at Harry, who's giggles had returned full force.

"I'm a _wizard_ for Merlin's sake, all I had to do was spell it clean!" he exclaimed, going on to grumble under his breath a bit more as he set Harry on top of it.

Sirius stepped back, pursing his lips in further contemplation.

"Well, at least you're above the table, now. But that looks to be a bit precarious… Hm…"

And indeed it did look precarious. Harry only had a few inches on either side of him, and long drop for a toddler his age if he fell over.

"Ah!" Sirius exclaimed yet again. "I know just the thing!"

He pulled out his wand, conjured a long, thin rope, and tied Harry's upper body to the back of the chair. Harry looked down at it, blinking a lot, before looking up at him.

"What?" Sirius asked rhetorically. "It works, doesn't it?"

Harry looked down at Sirius' _hard work_, and then looked back up at him… this time, with one eyebrow raised. Sirius blinked at him. Harry didn't blink back.

"Where did you learn _that_?! I can't remember your mum _or_ your dad ever doing it – was it Moony? Oh, Merlin, it was, wasn't it? That's just wonderful. I better not have to watch you grow up into a mini-Moony, now. I see I've already got my work cut out for me, don't I?"

Harry screwed up his face in concentration, trying to understand some of what he just said.

"Me li'e Unc' Moony?" he asked Sirius, who sighed.

"Apparently so. Ah, well. It could be worse. So long as you don't turn into a spoilsport! You're going to grow up to be a Junior Marauder, for me, okay?"

Harry smiled, always eager to please.

"Otay!"

"Good boy," he praised. "Now, let's see if I can find anything for you to eat." He pushed Harry's chair in until his face was over the table. Then he paused. He felt like he was forgetting something… then hit him.

"Napkin! Can't forget that!"

Sirius was proud of himself for remembering that much. He went over to a drawer by the sink, and pulled out what looked to be an expensive, green cloth napkin. He looked at it for a moment before going back to Harry, unfolding it and placing it in Harry's lap.

"Now you've got something to catch anything you might drop. From what I remember, you're pretty good already at not dropping, but better safe than sorry."

He smiled at Harry, before going back over to the cupboards to look for any possible food items that might still be good after 6 months of abandonment (for Sirius' parents had died of… somewhat natural causes around that time). Sirius was, at that point, almost pointedly ignoring the whole reason he was there with Harry in the first place. He would deal with that later.

He dug around in the cupboard through the canned goods , and some bags of different things that were likely no longer any good, before he spotted something that made him pause.

_What in the name of Merlin,_ he thought to himself. It was a small bag of berry granola crumbs. And not only that, it was from a _muggle_ brand. He pulled it out.

"Safari Crunch, granola berry snack," he read off the front. He turned around and met Harry's staring eyes.

"Well, it's not expired. This ought to work, then."

He went over to where Harry was, opening the package, and sat down in the chair to Harry's left. He opened the bag and began to hand the small pieces to Harry to eat one at a time. He supposed the napkin was a bit unnecessary, now, since the snack wasn't all that messy, but oh, well. It wasn't until Sirius had finished feeding him the snack and got up to untie him that he realized something extremely obvious.

He stopped, and threw his head back in irritation at himself.

"Well, Pup, if you do take after your Uncle Moony, it just might not be a bad thing! Your Uncle Padfoot is not doing a good job in the thinking department, because that whole hassle with the book and rope was completely avoidable!"

He huffed out a breath, putting his hands on his hips while Harry blinked at him.

"All I had to bloody do was make the chair bigger. That's all. Just make it bigger. So simple an answer, that I completely missed it. It's like being at Hogwarts, again, and getting Remus irritated at me for overthinking a simple problem."

Harry, seeing his frustration, grinned up at him.

"Oi! What're grinning at? This isn't funny!" Sirius was intentionally drawing it out, trying to keep Harry happy.

"Well, I guess it's bed time now, for you, isn't it?" At first Sirius wondered if he needed to give him a bath, before he reminded himself that Lily would've… she would've given Harry a bath before putting him to bed.

"Nooo," Harry pouted.

"Yeesss," Sirius drew out, rolling his eyes at him. "Tell you what, I'll find an old crib up in the attic, and I'll put it in my room, so you can sleep with me. How's that sound?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at him.

"Sleepy with you?"

"Yes, Harry, 'sleepy with me.'" Sirius answered, grinning slightly at the way he said it.

"…Otay."

Sirius looked at him fondly, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth, looking into Harry's vivid green eyes. He had to push aside his grief again as he saw the evidence of Lily in those eyes. He picked him up, and carried him into Sirius' old room, wincing at the more mature materials stuck to the walls, aware of the young person he held in his arms.

He set Harry onto the bed, before turning and spelling the window and all the drawers and his closet door temporarily closed, so that Harry couldn't get into it.

He turned to him.

"Now, stay here, alright? I'll be back in just a moment, I promise."

Sirius left the room, locking the door behind him (he really didn't want Harry getting into who-knows-what in this house), and went up into the attic. That was when something startled him half to death.

"_Who comes into the Most Noble and Ancient house of Black?!" _a rough, slightly high-pitched voice shouts.

Sirius whips around, lighting his wand with a Lumos, and sees an older house elf that he instantly recognized, even if it had been a few years – Kreacher, which was Regulus' old elf.

"Oi!" said Sirius. "Don't go shouting at me, Kreacher. After all, I suppose I am your master now, aren't I?"

Kreacher cringed back from him a bit.

"M… Master…" the elf ground this word out like it physically pained him. "Master Sirius… Surprise to see you here… Dear Mistress passed so long ago… Didn't think anyone would ever return… Can't believe you would…" then it seemed as if the elf had stopped addressing him, and was more talking to himself. "Can't believe an old traitor like yourself would ever come back to this house. Doesn't deserve it. Wish he wasn't here-"

"Yeah, well, you can just get over it. Don't know why _you're_ such the purist, after all, since dear old mother treated you so horribly but that's fine with me." Sirius interrupted him. "Just a few things, though – we have a new member to the family. He's my godson, Harry. I want you to never harm him, never allow anyone else to harm him, and never lead anyone else to harm him. I don't want you to ever betray us, and I don't want you to ever tell anyone about me or Harry without my permission, understand? Those are orders, Kreacher, not suggestions. I mean it."

Kreacher glared at him balefully before nodding. "Yes…. Master Sirius…"

Sirius gave him a hard look. "Good. Also, clean up the house, some, will you? It's too dusty everywhere."

"Yes, Master Sirius." and Kreacher popped away.

Sirius glanced around the attic, and it was surprisingly easy to spot Regulus' old crib when he was Harry's age. He retrieved it, and cast a cleaning spell with his wand, before taking it back downstairs.

He came back into the room to see Harry lying in the middle of his bed, fast asleep. He smiled sadly a moment at how peaceful he looked. He thought about how Harry had asked about Lily, and it was obvious he either didn't understand what had happened, or he was in denial. But that was okay. Sirius would take care of him, no matter what. Even if he only had the slightest idea of what he was doing.

He set the crib up just a foot from the side of the bed Sirius slept on, and transfigured some of his old clothes into miniature bedding. He got Harry and placed him carefully, still asleep, into the crib. He brushed a finger over the thin lightning-bolt-shaped scratch on his forehead, again wondering why that was his only injury. Sirius attempted to cast a healing spell on it, but it had no effect. He would have to watch that and make sure nothing happened with it. If it went normally, because he couldn't heal it, it would likely leave a scar.

Sirius' eyes flickered over Harry's sleeping face once more, before he sighed, and dressed for bed. he flopped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. He didn't think he would sleep well that night. He looked over at Harry, then cast a silencing charm around him, so Harry couldn't hear him if he had a nightmare. It wasn't likely that he'd fall asleep, in any case, but as he had thought earlier, better safe than sorry. It was now unavoidable – he needed to process everything that had happened.

**-#-#-#-#-#-**

**AN:****So that's chapter 2! I hope I did a better job with the writing, there. I only went over the first chapter once, just skimming it, and so I missed a lot of mistakes. Hopefully there aren't as many on this one. Btw, the lack of Walburga's screaming will be addressed later. Also, keep in mind I'm making this up as I go along… I had a bit of writer's block with this, and Kreacher was more difficult to write. Hopefully it's alright. I was also in a rush tonight to finish writing it, since I won't have another chance until Sunday. Idk when the next chapter will be. School's been nuts.**

**OH! POLL! Please vote for the poll in my profile! The poll is what do you want Harry's pairing to be. Also please inform me in a review if you want future Sirius/Remus slash, and if you want Dark!Harry (which'll be much easier for me to write than Light!Harry, in this fic, weirdly.)**

**Guest Review Replies:**

**J – Glad you liked it! Hope you're staying tuned. :-) **

**Anne – Glad you liked it! But, I'm sorry I didn't make this clear, but I really didn't want to deal with his parents, so I just… well, killed them. I haven't decided how, yet… Maybe they just died of early natural causes due to too much inbreeding. It's probably going to be something like that. BUT, if you meant her portrait, well… almost the same as usual. I'm hoping that because she's not been alone with a dark-magic-filled house for over 12 years she's not… **_**quite**_** as crazy as usual. :-)**


End file.
